Retouching photos to make models look larger?
Thanks to Rachel at The-F-Word.org for this great article on the issue of “too thin” models in high fashion. She presents a very balanced, nuanced look at the issue of “blame” regarding the use of underweight models.
This excerpt really struck me:
Vogue magazine editor Alexandra Shulman sent letters “not intended for publication” but seen by and reported on by The UK’s Times to Karl Lagerfeld, John Galliano and fellow designers at Prada, Versace, Yves Saint Laurent, Balen- ciaga and other top fashion houses accusing them of forcing magazines to hire models with “jutting bones and no breasts or hips” by supplying them with “minuscule” garments that have become “substantially smaller” for their photoshoots. The garments are typically sent to magazines six months before they appear in shops and editors have no choice but to hire models that fit the clothes or risk failing to cover the latest collections from leading designers, explained Shulman. “We have now reached the point where many of the sample sizes don’t comfortably fit even the established star models,” she noted in her letter, adding that Vogue is now frequently “retouching” photographs to make models look larger.
I thought about this post in light of the latest fashion contorversy: Calvin Klein’s NYC billboard featuring what appears to be a threesome (or foursome, depending on how you read the scene). Though the overt sexual nature of the image is striking (particularly for a billboard), what caught my eye was the emaciated appearance of the main “couple” in the scene. The young woman’s arm is so frail looking that it looks like she would struggle to lift it. And her makeout partner is equally gaunt and frail. It just looks sad to me.
7 comments
[...] Retouching photos to make models look larger?(16 June 2009) Thanks to Rachel at TheFWord.org for this great article on the issue of 8220too thin8221 models in high fashion. She presents a very balanced, nuanced… [...]
I read about this a couple of days ago–it’s really frightening.
also, um, the girl in that ck ad looks like she might be maybe thirteen years old…
Calvin Klein (or, more likely, his artistic director) often goes for the emaciated look, but I agree @maggiemunkee, this shoot has the additional “ick” factor of the underage look. The model probably IS 13 or so.
The more I learn about fashion and advertising the more upset I get. Thanks for your contribution to making us all aware of exactly how unreal ads are. Keep up the good work, Curvy Lady!
What can we do to help turn the tide away from the stick people models? Use your incredible power as consumers to NOT buy from companies who promote starvation as fashionable. Money=Power
I never really understood why the ads are so much different from the real customers. Pretty much a bad joke and fortunately there seems to be some sort of change lately.
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